Please note : This help page is not for the latest version of Enterprise Architect. The latest help can be found here.

Export to XMI

You can export a package to an XMI (XML-based) file.

This enables you to move Enterprise Architect model elements between models, for distributed development, manual version control, creating template models in your own MDG Technologies and other benefits. It also enables limited export of Enterprise Architect model elements to Rational Rose and other tools that implement the:

  • UML 2.1 XMI 2.1 standard
  • UML1.4 XMI 1.2 standard, or
  • UML 1.3 XMI 1.1 / XMI 1.0 standard.

For more information regarding the limitations of XMI exporting, read the Limitations of XMI topic.

Notes:
  • In the Corporate, Business and Software Engineering, System Engineering and Ultimate editions of Enterprise Architect, if security is enabled you must have Export XMI permission to export to XMI.
  • You can post-process the XMI content before saving the package to file, using a style sheet to convert the output to HTML, XSL, code, or other versions of XMI. If you want to do this, you must import the required style sheet into the project through the Resources window.

Export a Package to XMI

To export a package to XMI, follow the steps below:

  1. In the Project Browser window, select the package to export.
  2. Either:
  • Right-click and select the Import/Export | Export Package to XMI context menu option, or
  • Select the Project | Import/Export | Export Package to XMI menu option.

The Export Package to XMI dialog displays.
 
MOF_XMIDialog
 

  1. In the Filename field, type the directory path and filename into which to output the XMI file.
  2. If required, in the Stylesheet field click on the drop-down arrow and select a stylesheet to post-process XMI content before saving to the file.
  3. Select the Export Diagrams checkbox to export diagrams in the file.
  4. Select the Export Alternate Images checkbox to export the alternative images used in the diagrams.
  5. Select the Format XMI Output checkbox to format output into readable XML (this takes a few more seconds at the end of the run).
  6. Select the Write Log file checkbox to write a log of export activity (recommended); the log file is saved to the directory into which you export the XMI file.
  7. If using XMI 1.1, select the Use DTD checkbox to use the UML1.3 DTD (recommended). Setting this option validates the correctness of the model and checks that no syntactical errors have occurred. For more information regarding the use of DTDs, see the UML DTD topic.
  8. Leave the Enable full EA Roundtrip checkbox selected to keep data specific to Enterprise Architect in the XMI file.
  9. In the XMI Type: field, click on the drop-down arrow and select the appropriate XMI format:
  • XMI 1.1, to generate output in XMI 1.1 format (necessary if you intend to use this file in a comparison with the model at a later time)
  • XMI 2.1, to generate output in XMI 2.1 format.
  1. Select the Unisys/Rose Format checkbox to export in Rose UML 1.3, XMI 1.1 format.
  2. Select the Exclude EA Tagged Values checkbox to exclude Enterprise Architect-specific information from the export to other tools.
  3. Click on the Export button.

Important:

When exporting and importing with XMI 1.0 with Enterprise Architect, some loss of data occurs due to the limitations of XMI 1.0.

Notes:
  • XMI 2.1 exported by Enterprise Architect 7.0 (or later) might not be correctly imported into earlier versions of Enterprise Architect.
  • When you select to apply a Data Type Definition (DTD) during an XMI 1.1 export, the UML_EA.DTD file is written to the output directory into which the XML files are written (unless the UML_EA.DTD file is already present in the directory). No error is generated if the UML_EA.DTD file is not present in this directory during the XMI export.